My new tiny

Good day to y'all, it's RagingMoon1987 with something I consider myself very fortunate to have.  He's not really NEW new since he's eleven years old and I've already had him a month, but he's still new to me and new to y'all.  He's already proven VERY popular on Facebook.  My new tiny is this being called a Wishel.  These were produced during a brief period between October of 2006 and February of 2007, and they originally came in plaster eggs that one had to Hulk-smash hatch in order to get at the doll (hatching videos can be seen HERE and HERE).  My Wishel is obviously already hatched, but to have a Wishel at all is a delight.  To give y'all an idea of how hard Wishels are to find, Den of Angels's database page for Wishels has a grand total of seven posts (one of which is mine), and before I posted the database hadn't been updated since 2007.  A lack of activity on databases is to be expected when the company is long dead, but even other long-dead companies like Angelheim have more active databases than Wishel does.  Add to that the fact that my doll is the first and only Wishel I've seen in DoA's marketplace, stir all that together, and you've got a hard-to-find doll and a very happy RagingMoon1987.  He's so cute!!!

Forgive my little dolly son for nodding off; his former home in Massachusetts isn't exactly next door, and the trip has tuckered him out.  I've chosen to name my new tiny Wozzeck (pronounced "votz-eck," with a long O like "vote"), after the Alban Berg opera that is so different from the operas that I grew up with.  My father preferred Wagner's Gotterdammerung and Mozart's The Magic Flute, while I listened to Giacomo Puccini's work when I bothered with opera at all (as y'all may have figured out, I'm a sworn classic rock fan).  Wozzeck is hence a far cry from what I'm used to, and I have to admit that Berg's work is a bit of an acquired taste for those unaccustomed to atonal music, but it's not bad.  Obviously I liked it enough to name my doll after the lead character, though my Wozzeck is quite different from the mentally deranged soldier who murdered his cheating mistress and then met an unfortunate end himself.  No, this dreamy little face suggests a rather easygoing personality.

Wozzeck has a teensy bit of wear on his face-up, and the person I bought him from says he's "mellowed" a bit with age, which is a nicer term for yellowing.  No biggie; all resin yellows eventually.  Yellowing, mellowing, and face-up scuffs are part of life for a ball-jointed doll so I'm not terribly bothered with Wozzeck's signs of age.  It even gives me a chance to see what yellowing looks like next to my other dolls.  Here's what yellowed Wishel resin looks like next to Dream of Doll resin (Alistair, left) and Angel of Dream resin (Johnny, right).  Both Johnny and Alistair are relatively young by ball-jointed doll standards.

Also, here's how Wozzeck's yellowed resin compares to FairyLand resin.  Johanna (left) and Guinevere are also relatively young for ball-jointed dolls, though Johanna has started to fade some.

So this is what yellowed resin looks like!  It's...really not so bad!  Indeed I rather like Wozzeck's complexion, as it reminds me a bit of French vanilla ice cream.  I wasn't sure what to expect as Johnny and Alistair aged, but I think I can live with this.

Wishels came in a number of different forms, with my doll possessing the "Festivous" head.  If the information I read on DoA's wiki is correct then Wozzeck would thus be one of the earliest Wishels.  The Festivous head sports closed eyes and a plain headcap, as opposed to the open eyes and the halo, unicorn horn, or devil horns that sometimes accompanied later Wishel heads.  Wozzeck's back is also plain (some Wishels had angel or demon wings).

Wishels also had hand molds that varied widely.  I think Wozzeck may have a pair of praying hands, though I'm not certain.

His little hips appear to be Suwarikko-type hips, meaning that he can sit in a number of ways that most of my ball-jointed dolls cannot.  Or he should be able to, rather.  More on that later.

The aforementioned halos, horns, and wings sported by these Wishels are permanently attached, by the way.  However, they were/are small enough that they don't interfere with the dolls' abilities to wear wigs and clothes.  Wozzeck doesn't have a halo, horns, or wings, but I just thought I'd throw that out there.  Wozzeck also doesn't have anything to hold his headcap on, except for three tiny blops of eye putty!

Good grief, I've NEVER seen a ball-jointed doll's headcap put on in this manner; my other dolls rely on magnets or pegs to get the job done.  Wozzeck's headcap stays on fairly well, but unfortunately the putty does create some unsightly gaps that are unavoidable for the most part.

I'm tempted to try my luck with strips of tape, but I'm also hesitant due to fears that the tape might stain Wozzeck's resin.  Looks like he's stuck with eye putty for now!  This was a common feature of the earliest Wishels, by the way; the second wave, known as "Unbeknown," had magnets holding their heads together, but the Festivous wave had to make do with their eye putty.

Regarding size, Wozzeck is of a comparable size to my Ai Dolls and to my Hujoo nano Freya.  Here's how he looks next to Alistair and Johnny, both of whom are MSD-sized...

...and with Chloe and Ju-hwang, who are both supposed to be YoSD-sized...

...and finally, with fellow tinies Freya, Hope, and Marzipan.  Check it out, Hope has a new buddy to snooze with!

I'd like to compare a doll like Wozzeck with an SD-sized doll, but do y'all know how much those danged things cost??? Even a Smart Doll, made out of vinyl, is way out of my range...for now, anyway.  I'll have to ask Talolili to show y'all her Smart Doll; they're super-neat.  Anyway, since Wozzeck is close to Freya and the Ai sisters in size he can wear what they wear...or he could if he and I were into crossdressing (neither of us are).  Luckily he did come with a simple little outfit, perfect for use as sleepwear.  When Wozzeck arrived he was wearing this cute little onesie and a terry cloth bathrobe.

I've never seen a onesie in this size!  It's even got little ducks on it!

Not a bad little getup, but as y'all may know by now I love to dress and redress my dolls.  The DoA wiki states that some BlueFairy Pocket Fairy clothes will fit a Wishel, and I assume that PukiFee and Lati Yellow clothes will fit as well.  I also think that Luts' Tiny Delfs might be able to share clothes with Wishels, given the way that PukiFee/Lati Yellow clothes fit them.  So I kept all that in mind when I bought Wozzeck's first new clothing item:  a coat sized for PukiFee and Lati Yellow dolls, made of forest green boiled wool with faux fur trim on the hood and little snaps at the front.  The snaps are concealed with small, decorative brass buttons.

I'm just a little fond of coats with dramatic hoods, as this old photo of my factory Blythe doll will show.

Well, actually Jaylin is wearing a hat, not a hood, but it has the same effect as the hood on Wozzeck's coat.  See?

Regarding the fit, this coat fits surprisingly well considering it's sized for a PukiFee and PukiFees are a little bigger than Wishels.  The sleeves are a little too long, but coat sleeves tend to run long anyway, in real life AND on dolls.  In Wozzeck's case that serves the purpose of hiding the fact that he has no gloves (I can't find any that tiny).  That being said, the coat doesn't cover all of Wozzeck's body, and that isn't good because my little feller has naught to wear under that coat but his onesie and bathrobe, and NOTHING on his legs and feet!  This wasn't a huge deal when Wozzeck first arrived since November was warmer than usual, but now it's...well baby, it's cold outside!  I have some other things coming, stuff like some cute little outfits, a new wig, and a pair of shoes,  but none of that has come yet so I'll just settle back and wait.  I do have this cute little Pac-Man outfit, consisting of the classic T-shirt and blue jeans...

...but Einstein here ordered it in PukiPuki/Lati White size.  As I noted above, Wozzeck and my other tinies are PukiFEE and Lati YELLOW-sized.  Oh well, at least Pongpong won't have to run around naked...if I can ever get a Pongpong, that is!  Seriously, I even bought a wig for her, which I usually never do unless I'm 100% certain that a doll is coming home.  It's not here yet, but still...I'm weird, y'all.  Real weird.  I'll show y'all the wig when it comes, though; it too is weird, this bizarre mix of light orange and dusty rose.

I guess I shouldn't be coveting a Pongpong when I've got Wozzeck in the palm of my hand.  Remember I said earlier that Wishels are hard to come by (Pongpong is easy).  Now, regarding eye and wig sizes, Wozzeck can wear a size 4-5 wig, and if his eye wells were open he'd have taken 8mm eyes.  In addition to his onesie and bath robe he came with a white fur wig that his original owner admittedly didn't use much.  Speaking of Einstein, the wig reminds me a little of Albert Einstein's hair.

The wig doesn't fit very well, but it sticks with a piece of Velcro so it works in a pinch.  Just the same, I ordered Wozzeck another wig, one that looks a bit more masculine...and as with his new clothes the wig is not here yet.  It's coming from Ukraine, so it may be a while yet before I get it.  The white wig will do for now, though.

Wishels are not particularly known for their fantabulous posing, and Wozzeck is no exception.  This is his default position (notice his headcap is coming loose).

That left leg is particularly annoying; I can get the right leg in a standing position, but the left leg always wants to snap bent.  Standing Wozzeck up is thus a frustrating experience that will have to be dealt with.  Good thing fixing a kicky ball-jointed doll is an easy thing to do, provided one has wire AND a hot glue gun.  I have the wire...but not the hot glue gun.  Gobs of hot glue are necessary for wiring since the sharp ends of the wire may scratch resin parts if left uncovered.  Once I get that glue gun squared away I am wiring all of my ball-jointed dolls, resin and ABS alike, and Wozzeck will be the first one to get the treatment! 

Since Wozzeck doesn't want to stand I sit him down a lot, but that too is a chore because his rogue left knee keeps wanting to bend.  So I got him a chair, a My Life egg chair that is vaguely similar to a chair that Julie Albright once had.  This is intended for My Life's mini dolls.

I'm just now realizing that the shape of this chair hearkens back to Wozzeck's roots, and his beginnings of life in a plaster egg.  Kinda weird how that worked out; I swear it was a coincidence!  Regarding specifics, the chair is made out of thin, clear plastic with an opaque base and rim, and it has a gray plush cushion tacked inside.  The clear plastic feels flimsy and would not stand up to the errant foot of an adult (remember how we adults sometimes step on toys that kids leave scattered about), but it's a good seat for any small doll, including Wozzeck and his little friends.  There's a pretty narrow size bracket though, as some dolls that you or I think are little may in fact prove too big to sit here.  I always thought Chloe was a fairly small doll, but she's too tall to sit in the chair.  This is as close as she gets.

Since I've dragged Chloe into the mix, tangent time (y'all are so lucky!).  One of the workers at Wishel later went on to found Bobobie, the company that made Chloe, so Wozzeck and Chloe thus might be considered distant cousins.  Indeed, once upon a time there was some speculation that the tiny Bobobie dolls were recasts of Wishels due to the similarities of two particular dolls (Eric and Erin) to Wishels.  Subsequent reviews of the two dolls revealed that Wishel dolls are different from Eric and Erin in several ways, though their little faces do look similar!  Also worthy of consideration are Sunny and Moony, who are available from Denver Doll Emporium.  Both of them have tiny, single horns on their foreheads, similar to the horns sported by some of Wozzeck's Wishel brethren.  The Wishels with single horns have/had smaller horns that sit higher on their heads than Sunny and Moony's horns do, but the similarities are still interesting. 

I think that wraps it up.  I think it's a shame that Wishel folded as quickly as it did, since Wozzeck is a nice little product.  Most of the problems he has are easily rectified, though I do wish I didn't have to use eye putty to keep his head closed!  Probably with a bit of brainstorming I can come up with a solution for that as well.  But as with most of my dolls, despite his shortcomings I love Wozzeck a lot and I'm glad I waited for a Wishel to come up for sale.  Now he just needs a Pongpong to be his friend!

Happy Hanukkah,
RagingMoon1987